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I recommend the Federal Government remove Google Maps and Company Names from buildings for "at risk" terrorist targets. The Federal Government should, for example, require their defense contractors to remove their company names from their buildings and to wipe such business addresses referenced on the internet. Google Maps should be required to eliminate such locations/mapping from their online maps application. This
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I recommend the Federal Government remove Google Maps and Company Names from buildings for "at risk" terrorist targets. The Federal Government should, for example, require their defense contractors to remove their company names from their buildings and to wipe such business addresses referenced on the internet. Google Maps should be required to eliminate such locations/mapping from their online maps application. This has obvious benefits in terms of reducing risks to these locations. The Federal Government knows the locations of their contractors....nobody else needs to know. Right now, it seems to me like the general availability of this type of information is like leaving one's keys in their car knowing that car thieves are roaming your neighborhood. IF anyone is legitimately seeking such information, they should have to go through a security check...through the Federal Government.

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Conducting/supporting a study that compares all currently available triage tagging tools (different styles of paper tags, triage ribbon, reflective slap wrap wrist bands, colored clothes pins, chemical lights, single colored chemlight alternatives, triage lights and paper tags with RFID) in daytime, nighttime and adverse condition scenarios. There are several studies that compare triage methods but I have found only one
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Conducting/supporting a study that compares all currently available triage tagging tools (different styles of paper tags, triage ribbon, reflective slap wrap wrist bands, colored clothes pins, chemical lights, single colored chemlight alternatives, triage lights and paper tags with RFID) in daytime, nighttime and adverse condition scenarios. There are several studies that compare triage methods but I have found only one that compared triage tagging tools. It concluded when you use lights in adverse condition initial triage that you reduce patient collection times by over 30% and you reduce patient collection errors from 4 errors down to 1 error. Those are significant numbers due to improved situational awareness, see attached. The hope is to have the data available for FICEMS and NEMSAC to consider when writing upcoming National EMS guidelines. Data from the responder community is critical and I believe that by establishing which tools contribute the most towards a patients "Golden hour" as well as to the safety and performance of the responders is important.

Is there a need to establish which triage tagging tools contribute the most towards a patients "Golden Hour" and a responders overall safety/performance?

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Original post, http://fema.ideascale.com/a/dtd/24-7-Field-Triage-Preparedness/319348-14692 Top 15 for 3 years.
The recognition & adoption of a standardized national illuminated color coded system for triaging MCI patients 24/7. Today different States & organizations use different triage cards & tapes to triage patients. The one thing they all have in common is not the language or format of the triage cards but it is
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The recognition & adoption of a standardized national illuminated color coded system for triaging MCI patients 24/7. Today different States & organizations use different triage cards & tapes to triage patients. The one thing they all have in common is not the language or format of the triage cards but it is the color given to each priority. If a national color code standard is adopted then no State or Agency would have to change their triage cards but in cases of National Disasters when first responders from different States come together, red is always first, yellow is always second, green is always third and black (blue light) is always last, we all speak the same language, via the colors. The illuminated component to the triage system is to address the lack of one today. Today support personnel run around with flashlight shining the light on cards or pieces of tape in the dark or under adverse conditions to find the priority patients. Imagine a rolled over bus on the highway at night while it is snowing. Why, when there is a better way? Use lights for night time or adverse condition scenarios. A study has shown if you use lights in triage you reduce patient collection times by over 30% & reduce patient collection errors from 4 errors down to 1. Citizen's should be confident that our first responders are properly equipped & prepared to handle situations to the best of their abilities 24/7. Let’s make patients & responders lives easier. Seconds Count! 24/7

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The approach to volunteer emergency communications seems disconnected from the NIMS philosophy. The role (or roles) of ham radio with respect to the communication needs of an ongoing incident should be examined, and pertinent resource types should be identified. At the very least, resource types focused on on-incident comms should be distinct from resource types focused on connecting the incident to the outside world.
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The approach to volunteer emergency communications seems disconnected from the NIMS philosophy. The role (or roles) of ham radio with respect to the communication needs of an ongoing incident should be examined, and pertinent resource types should be identified. At the very least, resource types focused on on-incident comms should be distinct from resource types focused on connecting the incident to the outside world. There is likely a third need: enabling brief contact between affected/displaced individuals and their remote loved ones prior to the restoration of services.

The entire point of NIMS is that the response should be able to scale beyond the ability of the local resources to address it. The exclusively local focus of RACES and amateur radio integration in local disaster plans precludes this, as remote hams are not privy to local plans. Defining a rational set of nationally standardized amateur radio resource types allows local plans the option of scaling up should the need arise.

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PURPOSE:
U.S. statistics may imply that >70% of private-sector small businesses have time or money constraints that adversely impact their preparedness.
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CONDITIONS, BUSINESS PREPAREDNESS IS LIKELY TO BE CONSTRAINED IN:
1. Sole-proprietorships and other single person businesses.
=> As of 2013 there are 19,850,941 Sole-proprietorships businesses in the U.S.
=>Businesses that are sole-proprietorships may be functioning
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PURPOSE:

U.S. statistics may imply that >70% of private-sector small businesses have time or money constraints that adversely impact their preparedness.

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CONDITIONS, BUSINESS PREPAREDNESS IS LIKELY TO BE CONSTRAINED IN:

1. Sole-proprietorships and other single person businesses.

=> As of 2013 there are 19,850,941 Sole-proprietorships businesses in the U.S.

=>Businesses that are sole-proprietorships may be functioning as “typical laymen individuals” (from a preparedness point of view).

2. Businesses with revenue less than $50,000 per year (before overhead is deducted).

=>As of 2013 there are12,669,671 U.S. businesses making

=>In sole-proprietorships, there are many circumstances whereby revenue is a direct function of engaging in the (primary revenue generating work activity).

=>Any other activity undertaken (such as preparedness) looses time and money.

=>Businesses that make less than $50,000 per year will not have money left over for “Capabilities” or “Resources,” and can not support anything other than free preparedness options, and may only be interested in preparedness options that take the least time to manage.

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SOLUTION:

Promote, additional small business community engagement events that will help them form collaborative networks with other local businesses to support one another in ways that will compensate for lack of personnel and budgetary constraints.

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Was watching the weather channel and one of those myth/fact ones came on proving that they are not safe in a Tornado, my idea is take some of those small storm shelters you can buy and make them bigger now put one on each side of the highway under the overpass, so maybe 10+ can survive in them over the course of the storm.. might need to have some special code or cards so homeless do not take up residents..

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It was upsetting to read that a drone, with a bottle of liquid that could be radioactive, was found on the roof of the Japanese Prime Minister's Office. I would suggest that a modified version (with smaller rubber bullets) of the Phalanx CIWS advanced radar- controlled gun system be installed at both the White House and the Capital Building. We have the technology to stop these threats, let's get in front of this threat
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It was upsetting to read that a drone, with a bottle of liquid that could be radioactive, was found on the roof of the Japanese Prime Minister's Office. I would suggest that a modified version (with smaller rubber bullets) of the Phalanx CIWS advanced radar- controlled gun system be installed at both the White House and the Capital Building. We have the technology to stop these threats, let's get in front of this threat and shut it down.

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Perhaps a perspective on a positive experience will spark some ideas..
Over the past 18 months we've been working harder than ever to build relationships with local churches and civic groups in hopes to recruit new entities into the disaster relief/recovery world. After less than desirable response to a letter that went to every church in the county, in the wake of last year's ice storm, they started coming out of the
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Perhaps a perspective on a positive experience will spark some ideas..

Over the past 18 months we've been working harder than ever to build relationships with local churches and civic groups in hopes to recruit new entities into the disaster relief/recovery world. After less than desirable response to a letter that went to every church in the county, in the wake of last year's ice storm, they started coming out of the woodwork.

Earlier this month we orchestrated a disaster recovery dinner meeting for faith-based orgs and civic groups, hosted by the local Elks Lodge (disaster feeding site). More than 15 churches were represented along with the Red Cross, Salvation Army and DSS, to name a few. In addition, 2 mayors, a police chief, fire chief, the county HR director and deputy county administrator were in attendance. The focus of the meeting was to discuss a 2 key shortfalls we anticipate post disaster: feeding (public and responders) and donations distribution.

The outcome was very positive and we have more groups calling the office to find out where they fit into the recovery picture. What's even more eyeopening is how we're helping create relationships across denominations - this has gone beyond what our VOADs facilitate.

I attribute the success in part to my staff's effort, the buy-in from our community stakeholders and the support from our local government leadership.

We are excited and anxious to see what emerges on this side of the EM program.

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We are living 100 years back in time.Start putting all new grids underground and when servicing old power lines put them under also.It is a proven fact that above ground power lines are the first to go during ANY storm.I have submitted this idea over a year ago and things could have already been accomplished if anyone got off their bottoms.Also if you check you'll find out that this is a recurring problem leaving millions
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We are living 100 years back in time.Start putting all new grids underground and when servicing old power lines put them under also.It is a proven fact that above ground power lines are the first to go during ANY storm.I have submitted this idea over a year ago and things could have already been accomplished if anyone got off their bottoms.Also if you check you'll find out that this is a recurring problem leaving millions a year without power so,DO SOMETHING!

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Here is an idea that may help speed up adoption of the USNG (U.S. National Grid) coordinate system.
Below is a link that uses the familiar Google map interface and displays a USNG grid down to 100 meters as you zoom in. The grid lines are properly labeled on the left and bottom edge of the map and the grid lines are visible on both dark and light backgrounds.
This link will work fine in most browsers on most devices,
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Here is an idea that may help speed up adoption of the USNG (U.S. National Grid) coordinate system.

Below is a link that uses the familiar Google map interface and displays a USNG grid down to 100 meters as you zoom in. The grid lines are properly labeled on the left and bottom edge of the map and the grid lines are visible on both dark and light backgrounds.

This link will work fine in most browsers on most devices, from desktop computers to smartphones and everything in between.

My name is Joseph Elfelt and I am a software developer. The map is displayed by Gmap4 which is an enhanced Google map viewer that I produced. To the best of my knowledge, Gmap4 is the only software that is based on the familiar Google map interface and which supports USNG across a broad feature set that includes:

* Two-tone (black and white) grid lines down to 100m

* Color-coded USNG labels at the bottom and left edge of the map ("read right then up")

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I used to work for Amtrak a while ago,at Bear Deleware facility I noticed several old railcars sitting in the back yard. Many cars were passenger, some sleepers, some food service, and whatever else they used. Fixing up these cars into a train would not take much and can easily be rolled into a disaster area. Units could be parked all over the USA. Just a thought. PKing.

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A LEED rated composite as roofing was evaluated by the Hurricane Testing Laboratory who concluded that no critera exsits for testing. The toughest building code body in America sees this development as "Revolutionizing construction".
Florida's current administration opposes all developments that save energy. The state ranks #1 in killing green jobs/businesses based on its abundant sunshine.
The composite has thermai
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A LEED rated composite as roofing was evaluated by the Hurricane Testing Laboratory who concluded that no critera exsits for testing. The toughest building code body in America sees this development as "Revolutionizing construction".

Florida's current administration opposes all developments that save energy. The state ranks #1 in killing green jobs/businesses based on its abundant sunshine.

The composite has thermai properties akin to NASA Space Shttle tiles, and ballistic properties. Of course, the roofing sector does not wish to see this game changer being commercially available. Gov. Rick Scott is opposed to anything that is "green".

PV properties can be embedded in the composite while "setting", thus leads to "Solarizing America on the Cheap". which could create inestimable green jobs.

There would be no upfront costs to most property owners based on in place programs. How could this development be blocked by shaddy politiics.

In FEMA's disasterous response to ordering $1.2 billion worth of trailers on the aftermath of Katrina that were a danger to health, how could this happen?

If the trailers could have been given a long dose of steam, the outgasing would have been controlled. Didn't anybody at FEMA bring this alternative to the table?

One would believe that FEMA would advance hurricane resistant roofing. Is anyone thinking? Why the resistance to innovation?

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• Percent of housing units that are not mobile homes
• Number of housing units
• Number of vacant housing units
• Number of hospital beds per 10,000 population
• Number of ambulances
• Number of fire stations
• Number of hotels/motels per square mile
• Number of public schools per square mile
• Number of community centers
• Number of community food service facilities
• Number of temporary shelters
• Number of licensed
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• Percent of housing units covered by NFIP policies
• Percent of municipal expenditures for fire, police, and EMS
• Emergency Response Strategy at State, County, and Local levels
• Number of fire fighters and police officers
• Number of physicians per 10,000 population
• Blood banks and capacity per 10,000 population
• Number of health care workers
• Number of building inspectors
• Number of highway, street, and bridge
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We Americans can contain Ebola; after all, we were the first in flight, developed the vaccine, put a man on the moon, and developed the Internet, when we all work together!
One idea can build upon another and more ideas can build on these two new concepts and on and on it goes. Just like how we Americans developed inventions as listed, we can stop this deadly disease. Fortunately we have this Internet where we can share
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We Americans can contain Ebola; after all, we were the first in flight, developed the vaccine, put a man on the moon, and developed the Internet, when we all work together!

One idea can build upon another and more ideas can build on these two new concepts and on and on it goes. Just like how we Americans developed inventions as listed, we can stop this deadly disease. Fortunately we have this Internet where we can share and build upon ideas.

Just to get the conversation started, the following are ideas for policy makers to consider. Most people have cell phones, ATM and credit cards. Can we trace using cell phone GPS, ATM and credit card databases of where people have been? Then contact all the people who were near the one infected at the time he was at, using cell phones tower transponders locations, ATM cards and credit card databases. For small kids, use the parents' cell phones location, school enrollment records and hospital databases to locate this younger crowd.

As for aviation, instead of monitoring people once they have flown into the United States; use the disease containment protocol before they get on the plane to fly to the U.S. If it takes a few days for the disease to become transferable, they must wait out this time at the international temporary hospitals located at these airports. Then if cleared, they may board the plane bound to the U.S.

These are just 2 ideas, and perhaps these thoughts will make you think to add to these concepts. So please, created a national report for us Americans to develop such a plan to stop this thing called Ebola.

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In the IT world, they place more than one layer of protection to prevent cyber attacks. Can they place more than one layer of protection around schools?
I recently helped my daughter move into a dorm, and they gave her a key card to get into the building. Though a student was waiting at this doorway to enter the building at the same my daughter would enter. Not safe, though innocent.
Can they place a secondary fence
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In the IT world, they place more than one layer of protection to prevent cyber attacks. Can they place more than one layer of protection around schools?

I recently helped my daughter move into a dorm, and they gave her a key card to get into the building. Though a student was waiting at this doorway to enter the building at the same my daughter would enter. Not safe, though innocent.

Can they place a secondary fence around whole sections of dorm buildings? They could place the outer gate at the R.A. office. This way, only those who live at a particular dorm may enter the first gate. If they go through this first gate without a card, the R.A. will lock all the secondary gates until school security arrives.

As for bad news about the missing college students, universities ought to create videos about personal safety, and then post this information onto college students' facebook accounts. Perhaps, there could be free prizes for those who watch these videos, and there could be periodic videos to remind students about safety. Text messages could be used to post where to pick up their winnings and any meetings on personal safety.

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As FEMA develops more tools to assess and develop business and organizational resilience (e.g. PS-PrepTM, the Business Continuity planning suite), it would be great if they also thought about how to drive and develop tools to help build a culture of resilience in organizations. Standards like ASIS SPC.1-2009 are useful for BC planing etc., but orgs also need leadership, culture, and processes that enable unplanned adaptation
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As FEMA develops more tools to assess and develop business and organizational resilience (e.g. PS-PrepTM, the Business Continuity planning suite), it would be great if they also thought about how to drive and develop tools to help build a culture of resilience in organizations. Standards like ASIS SPC.1-2009 are useful for BC planing etc., but orgs also need leadership, culture, and processes that enable unplanned adaptation and agility. A source of inspiration is Resilient Organisations - a public good research program in New Zealand – that has spent the last 10 years examining the factors that help organizations survive and thrive in crises. They have contributed to the development of several tools to help organizations think through the softer and less tangible aspects of resilience. These include the Benchmark Resilience Tool, the Employee Resilience Tool, and the Organisational Resilience HealthCheck (developed by the Resilience Expert Advisory Group for the Attorney General’s Department in Australia). Doing planning in conjunction with the development of positive organizational culture and robust partnerships will guide organizations toward a more dynamic approach to resilience. This is especially relevant for small businesses and organizations with limited resources for formal planning, certification programs, and exercises. FEMA could also use tools like these to evaluate and improve its own intra- and inter-organizational systems and employee resilience. Cf: one of the aims of FEMA’s 2014-18 strategic plan is to “strengthen FEMA’s organizational foundation”.

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Law Enforcement (primarily) seems to have forgotten the concept of the Staging Area when responding to a Mass Casualty incident like an Active Shooter. Offices have been taught to "go in" rather than wait. We have accepted the risk of being shot in an effort to stop the continued shooting. And I agree with this concept when it comes to the officers who are on duty and respond to the scene as dispatched.
My issue is
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Law Enforcement (primarily) seems to have forgotten the concept of the Staging Area when responding to a Mass Casualty incident like an Active Shooter. Offices have been taught to "go in" rather than wait. We have accepted the risk of being shot in an effort to stop the continued shooting. And I agree with this concept when it comes to the officers who are on duty and respond to the scene as dispatched.

My issue is that officers who are off duty, from other agencies, or who self-dispatch need to respond to a staging area so their entry into a building or facility can be coordinated and their presence can be accounted for. Law Enforcement needs to re-focus on the mission of the Staging Area Manager and train officers that unless they are dispatched to such an incident, they need to respond to staging for proper assignment.

Numerous incidents have identified this as an issue, to include he shootings a the Washington Navy Yard and the Mall in Columbia in Howard County, MD. There have been near blue-on-blue incidents, and this kind of tragedy is avoidable. But it will require the input of law enforcement commanders on the scene.

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EDUCATION ON PREVENTION AND PREPARATION IS THE KEY
General objective
1.Former leaders in preparation for emergencies and contingencies.
2. Establish local emergency committees
Particular objectives - short-term -:
Participants will learn to:
To understand and to put in practice the essential concepts of prevention and preparedness for emergencies and disasters events, through the management of crisis plant
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EDUCATION ON PREVENTION AND PREPARATION IS THE KEY

General objective

1.Former leaders in preparation for emergencies and contingencies.

2. Establish local emergency committees

Particular objectives - short-term -:

Participants will learn to:

To understand and to put in practice the essential concepts of prevention and preparedness for emergencies and disasters events, through the management of crisis plant and risk scenarios.

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Each level can be considered a "street" address. Each level therefor is equivalemt of a block. So within the building inside any community, Each unit should have an inside community email address. More&more, people are living in multi-residential buildings and they don't even know the people on their own level yet have ideas about how their community should be maintained. If the USA citizens can't even get together and
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Each level can be considered a "street" address. Each level therefor is equivalemt of a block. So within the building inside any community, Each unit should have an inside community email address. More&more, people are living in multi-residential buildings and they don't even know the people on their own level yet have ideas about how their community should be maintained. If the USA citizens can't even get together and resolve differenjces about maintenance of their homes at the "block" level , then why sacrifice our lives ij Iraq ajd Syria when we can't do the same thing here usijg email?

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This is an add-on to Candice Abinanti's idea already submitted. UN ISDR also has a free scorecard containing over 80 detailed assessments of disaster resilience - in effect, 80 resilience indicators - available from http://www.unisdr.org/campaign/resilientcities/. This offers a level of detail below the LG SAT and is consistent with that instrument, being based on the same Ten Essentials as defined by the UN ISDR.
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This is an add-on to Candice Abinanti's idea already submitted. UN ISDR also has a free scorecard containing over 80 detailed assessments of disaster resilience - in effect, 80 resilience indicators - available from http://www.unisdr.org/campaign/resilientcities/. This offers a level of detail below the LG SAT and is consistent with that instrument, being based on the same Ten Essentials as defined by the UN ISDR. Alternatively, the LG SAT may be regarded as the executive summary of the scorecard, once completed.

The scorecard would be used to capture the baseline of how resilient each community is now, where it is strong and where it needs to devote attention and maybe funds. It then allows progress to be tracked over time.

Therefore the idea would be to systematically apply the scorecard - which, to repeat, is free - to generate resilience measures for cities across the US. Full disclosure: the scorecard was created for the UN by IBM and AECOM (I am an IBM employee). A computer tool, also free, exists to capture data from scorecard completions and display that data for each city to view (data for each city is confidential to it, unless the city chooses to release it).